'“The fact is that ICE is now acting with more impunity than ever; it’s actively retaliating against people who speak out. Look what happened to Laura Monterrosa. What happened to her is happening at detention centers across the country,' Merton said.

"The effective elimination of the legal orientation program further isolates people already living in geographically remote detention centers, a situation that concerns Bob Libal, executive director of Grassroots Leadership.

"Earlier this month, Salvadoran immigrant Laura Monterrosa was finally released from detention in Texas after publicly accusing a female guard of sexually assaulting her. In 2010, a Guatemalan woman reported surviving an attempted rape by a Corrections Corporation of America guard named Donald Dunn. (The company has been renamed CoreCivic.) The complaint spiraled into a massive sexual-abuse scandal as a slew of other women came forward, and Dunn was jailed after pleading guilty to assault charges." Read more about ‘A Border Control Official Sexually Abused Me’

"For the last six months, we've been following the story of Laura Monterrosa. The Salvadorian asylum-seeker claims a guard sexually assaulted her while she was locked up at the T. Don Hutto Detention Center in Taylor." Read more about ICE detainee on alleged assault

"Monterrosa pleaded for a united front on behalf of the women at T. Don Hutto. According to Grassroots Leadership, less than 1 percentof sexual allegations made within immigrant detention centers are investigated.